Bulk carrier operators say the introduction of megaships in Brazil-China trade will depress the dry bulk market even further.
The Brazilian ore giant Vale will early next year take delivery of a 400,000 tonne iron ore carrier. To give you some indication of the size of the megaship, it is 130 percent bigger than the world’s largest container ship, Emma Maersk, at 11,000 TEUs.
The newbuilding will be the first of 30 such ore carriers that have been dubbed Chinamax vessels. … It is hardly surprising that the news has been greeted with incredulity. When oversupply of ships is the reason your market is struggling, flooding it with the biggest ships ever does not appear to be a sound strategy.